It came in the form of a phony historic plaque, attached to a brick wall outside of the gallery on Chapel Street. Appearing overnight, it was the handiwork of BiP, the graffiti artist who claimed to be leaving town just a few months ago.

“This plaque marks the spot on which Sam Dilvan used a felt marker to scrawl the minimalist yet emotionally complex tag, ‘Boobz,’” the prank plaque began. After a few more references to body parts, it ended with, “Although the original masterpiece is no longer visible, Dilvan’s penchant for using words carelessly throughout his environment remains a guiding force in modern society and culture.”

BiP took ownership of the plaque Tuesday after being reached through a spokesman.

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“Just ripping on myself, the culture of art, advertising. ... We’re all equally pretentious,” BiP said in an email. “Everything’s always about presentation, even the way I made my point: it’s a piece of wood painted to look like metal.”

BiP continued, “You might think I got one up on the Yale gallery, but the joke’s on me. This object I slaved for months over getting ‘just right’ is going to wind up in a YUAG trash can. ... That’s what happens when your medium is vandalism.”

Early morning pedestrians seemed not to notice anything out of place Tuesday as they walked past the joke or stood at a nearby bus stop.

A Yale spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Unlike BiP’s other work, the plaque piece was unsigned by the artist. BiP stands for Believe in People.

The anonymous artist has spray painted and stenciled his way around New Haven for several years, often sneaking onto the Yale campus to do so. He also painted a giant hand on the outer wall of West Haven Lumber and a portrait of Anne Frank on a building on Crown Street.

More recently, BiP plied his legally-sketchy trade elsewhere, working in Taiwan, China, New York City and Detroit. In January, he organized a public showing of a film in which he shared his thoughts on New Haven and his place therein.

In that quasi-documentary, he described himself as an Ivy League graduate who turned away from a six-figure salary in order to reinvent himself as a street artist. He also gave the impression he’d be moving on from the Elm City.

Call Jim Shelton at 203-789-5664. Have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect directly with the editors of the New Haven Register at AskTheRegister.com.